Shell of the Ghost
by Serenity Searcher
Summary: The womanizing Grimsley is in the middle of three month dry spell, so he decides to see what is beneath the quiet, reserved Shauntal's shell.


**Thanks to the wonderful aerococonut this idea got into my head to write a short little story starring Shauntal and Grimsley. This story showed us just how alike we think. Check out her story Expectations.**

I walk into the restaurant where we Elites get most of our meals, to find Marshal, Caitlin and Shauntal laughing and enjoying themselves. Stupid sleeping patterns, I have been the last one down here every day for a month_. _I take my usual seat next to Marshal who, as is his custom, greets me with a _friendly_ pat on the shoulder -which sends me straight into my cereal…jerk. I look up to see Marshal and Caitlin laughing at me but Shauntal is avoiding my eyes and not laughing. She's definitely more reserved when I'm around.

One of these days I'll crack that shell of hers and find out just who she is underneath.

Abandoning my now hairy cereal I lean across the table, but the fruit bowl is out of reach. Damn. "Hey Shauntal could you pass me the fruit bowl?" She looks over my left shoulder. Hmm... Whatever is making her reserved has gotten worse lately. Well, a good way to learn about a person is to battle. As I grab my fruit I ask "Shauntal would you do me the honour of battling this afternoon?" She smiled, lighting up her pretty face, as she agreed to it.

Excellent, this is going to be fun.

"So Shaunie takes on the big, bad dark trainer now, eh?" Marshal was too far away for a 'friendly' pat, but he had to have his say as usual, the jerk.

Caitlin stood up and grabbed Shauntal saying "Come on. If the battle is this afternoon you need some time to figure out how you're going to win against the type disadvantage." Caitlin dragged her off and Marshal chuckled.

...Have I mentioned he can be a jerk?

"Alright big guy, where's the joke?"

Marshal just turned and smiled. "What? Are you telling me the great, romantic Grimsley doesn't see what's going on under his very nose? I thought you were used to ladies hanging off you? Come to think of it have you even had one in the past three months?"

Of course he managed to pick up on my dry spell. Most of my leisure time is spent with a female companion, but that hasn't happened for three months.

...Shauntal arrived three months ago. I might be losing my touch.

"Anyway, I was just saying that there won't be much... _tactical_ conversation going on between those two."

"Marshal, when will you ever just be straight with me and divulge the information I ask for? You can be a real jerk sometimes, have I ever told you that?"

At this, Marshal laughed his great, booming laugh. "Grimsley you call me a jerk _at least_ three times a day! And why the hell should I be straight with you? It's much more fun to wind you up like this."

Don't take me wrong, Marshal is one of my best friends; he just has this tendency to be a jerk. He was obviously not in the mood for a normal conversation, so I left him be as I went to while away the hours until my match with the enigmatic ghost trainer.

...

_Hours later at the arena…_

"Ok Shauntal, this will be a full six on six battle. Is that alright by you?" I ask as she runs her hand along her Pokeballs. It has been a while since we've battled; I'd forgotten she did that. It's a rather cute habit of hers.

"Yeah, sure." Hmm, she's still in her shell. Oh well, she puts her personality into her battle style, so I might just get to see why she retreats when I'm around.

"Bisharp, come forth!" I shout as I bring out my trusty Bisharp, the metallic skeleton appeared in a flash of white light as Shauntal grabbed a Pokeball and threw it into the air.

"Golurk, materialise." The ghostly golem appeared and the battle began.

"Bisharp, Night Slash, go." I instructed, as my Bisharp lunged at Golurk, arm blades glowing purple.

"Golurk, counter with Brick Break!" Shauntal yelled as Bisharp closed in; her Golurk raised its hand and chopped, countering my Night Slash with equal power.

"Bisharp use Grass Knot, bring it to the ground." Bisharp's hands glowed green for a moment as the knot of grass formed and sent Golurk down.

"Golurk, use Earthquake!" Shauntal shouted as her Golem fell. Upon impact, it sent a great shockwave through the earth -causing Bisharp plenty of damage.

Hmm... Even with a type advantage I could tell this was going to be a fun battle. "All right Bisharp, time to finish it off, use Night Slash once more." Bisharp slashed with her purple-bladed arms, knocking Golurk out of the match. The corner of her mouth dipped slightly as she recalled her Pokémon.

"Well Shaunie, looks like I'm one up already. Really, what kind of trainer challenges someone when every single one of their Pokémon has the type advantage against yours?" Sometimes, I'm not the most gracious of winners. And besides, I want to see something other than the reserved Shauntal, the one who calculates everything she is going to say.

"One who is up for a challenge," she answered. Damn, she's still holding back. "Chandelure, materialise"! She brought out her Chandelure, one of her strongest Pokémon. Well, she seemed affected by this. Her Chandelure rose steadily, its fire type would normally cause my Bisharp some trouble, but I do have countermeasures. "Chandelure use Fire Blast, give it your best shot!"

Wow. Opening with her strongest move. I think I'm getting to her.

"Bisharp, dodge and use Rain Dance. Ooh, your best Pokémon loses a lot of its power now, what are you going to do Shaunie?" I taunted. She smiled at something obviously funny. Why does everyone have their private jokes today?

"Don't call me Shaunie, Chandelure, dematerialise," she said as she recalled her Pokémon. "Jellicent, materialise". She exchanged Chandelure for her ghostly pink jellyfish…oh shit, and I've just set it up perfectly with Rain Dance. "Grimsley, you are too arrogant for your own good, Jellicent use Hydro Pump."

"Bisharp dodge it! I am not arrogant," I replied, watching as Bisharp narrowly avoided the powerful Hydro Pump attack.

"Oh yes you are! Plus, you're ostentatious. Jellicent finish it off, move in close and use Hydro Pump!" Jellicent raced in and blasted Bisharp out of the match with another strong Hydro Pump.

"How am I ostentatious? Bisharp, your duty is done. A fine fight, my friend. Drapion, come forth." She smiled at her quick turnaround.

The great, purple scorpion appeared in a flash of white light and stared down her Jellicent, as Shauntal spoke again. "Seriously... how are you _not_ ostentatious? That scarf, that suit... all designed to show off your damn hot body." She blushed.

Hmm... could it be? Is that why she is so reserved? Because she's afraid of saying something stupid like that?

"Drapion, go for it! Use Crunch." The scorpion throws itself at the jellyfish, easily landing a solid hit. Shauntal still seems distracted. Her cheeks go a nice colour when she blushes; maybe I should be trying to make her blush more often.

...What on earth am I thinking? Am I in that bad of a dry spell that I'll try and turn my talents onto my fellow elites? If this starts happening around Marshal I have a serious problem...

"Jellicent, Ominous Wind, get away from it." She demanded. "...What, no comment of arrogance? If what Caitlin tells me is true, you had women clamouring for your attention until I arrived. What happened?" Her jellyfish hits Drapion with a blast of purple wind, causing little damage.

Great. I started this battle with the intention of seeing what's under her shell, and now she's making _me_ uncomfortable. "I'm just having a dry spell. Drapion, bring that thing down. Use Thunder Fang." I laugh as Drapion lands another direct hit, piling on the damage to her Jellicent. "Come one Shaunie, keep your head in the battle!"

"Oh but it is Grimsley, it is. Jellicent use Water Pulse, wash it away." The sheer power of the rain-boosted Water Pulse blasts my Drapion to the other side of the arena. Looks like she can taunt me _and _fight.

"Drapion lets finish this! Crunch, one more time." Drapion lands yet another direct hit, knocking Jellicent down and out. "That's two to me Shaunie; really if your head is in this fight you would have had a trick up your sleeve somewhere."

"I thought I told you to stop calling me Shaunie? Jellicent, dematerialise you put up a good fight. But seriously, from what I've heard you were quite the womaniser, and yet here you are in a three month dry spell? Perhaps you are scared. Cofagrigus, materialise."

Oh great, it's that creepy coffin thing. "What would I be scared of? Your itty bitty ghosts? Drapion show her just how scared we are. Use Crunch." Drapion just stood there, unable to use Crunch. "Damn curse body. Oh well, a minor inconvenience. Drapion use Night Slash." Drapion launched forward and slashed at her coffin.

"Cofagrigus, use multi hand Will-O-Wisp." Many ghostly hands shot out of the ground and launched blue fireballs at Drapion, scoring direct hits and leaving him with several burns. Great not only is that _thing_ creepy but it has some impressive battle techniques.

"Drapion, your duty is done. Honchkrow, come forth." The great black bird appeared, and as always he was ready for a fight. I love my Honchkrow, he never backs down.

"See, you are scared! You recall your Pokémon the instant I start to get the upper hand. Your arrogance is misplaced. Cofagrigus use multi hand Will-O-Wisp again!" Multiple blue fireballs flew towards my Pokémon for the second time.

"Honchkrow, dodge and then use Sky attack." Ah yes, Honchkrow is difficult to hit in mid-air, and with its powerhouse moves Shauntal is really in trouble now. Honchkrow glows bright as he dives straight at Cofagrigus. "If my so called arrogance is misplaced, explain why I am winning." Honchkrow scores a direct hit but her blasted coffin is still standing.

"Your arrogance is in that you believe an attack that simple can take out Cofagrigus. Will-O-Wisp go." Honchkrow took a direct hit from the blue fireballs, burning him as well. Great lead me straight into a trap, might be helpful to pay attention.

"That's Honchkrow's strongest attack." I stated. That thing must be seriously tough to survive that.

"Obviously not strong enough. Cofagrigus, grab it then use Energy ball." Honchkrow was too fast for the grab attempt.

"Keep at a distance Honchkrow, and use Dark Pulse to bring that thing down." Most Pokémon don't faze me but her Cofagrigus creeps me out. I mean, it's a coffin with arms! How is that _not_ creepy? The attack lands but even Honchkrow's Dark Pulse isn't enough to beat it; just what is it going to take to bring that thing down?

"Cofagrigus use Giga Impact." Guess she's done holding back. That's fine by me.

"Honchkrow use Protect. No matter how much power you have, it can't break this shield." Honchkrow took the attack with ease and now her creepy coffin can't move for a moment. "Honchkrow, Dark Pulse." The blast of dark energy had taken down her coffin, giving me a lead of 3 to 1.

"Cofagrigus, dematerialise. You put up a great fight. Now, Driftblim materialise." Her great ghost balloon appeared. Honchkrow can handle this one easily.

"Come on Shaunie, your Driftblim has no chance against my almighty Honchkrow, just give up now, save your dignity." Her face didn't change at all. Cracking her shell is going to be harder than I thought.

"Driftblim, use Thunderbolt." The surprise electrical attack was easily strong enough to take Honchkrow down. "Hmm, your unbeatable Honchkrow? Was that it? The one that just dropped like a rock? Conceited prick!" Finally, something! She seems to have quite the temper... This could get interesting.

"Honchkrow, your duty is done. So there _is _something more to you than the reserved girl I've known these past three months. It's only taken half an hour of solid battling and taunting to bring it out of you. Liepard, come forth." My Liepard appeared and as usual, she was ready to fight to the end.

"That's what this whole battle was about? So you could see the real me? Fine, if you want to see the real me then you better be ready to fight. Driftblim lets go, use Thunderbolt." She was really coming at me now. Might not have been such a good idea to annoy her out of her shell after all. Too late now.

"Liepard, dodge into Aerial Ace, don't give her a chance to counterattack." Liepard, -with all the grace of, well, a cat- evaded the attack and launched the sure-hit move.

"Predictable, launching a sure-hit move. Driftblim, take the hit and then give it your best Thunderbolt." Great, now she knows just how I'm going to attack her. There is a _very _good reason why she is a member of the Elite Four.

"Liepard use Night Slash."

"Driftblim, dodge and use Fly! Grimsley dear, try and keep up." Amazing. I get her angry, she gains the advantage and starts taunting me, all within five seconds. Damn me and my blasted curiosity. If she keeps this up I'm going to look like a joke. Liepard takes a direct hit from Fly and is in some serious trouble.

"Liepard, use Sucker Punch!"

"Getting desperate now, are we Grimsley? Driftblim, finish it up, Air Slash." Perfect. Sucker Punch took priority and landed a direct hit on Driftblim as Air Slash was launched. Both Pokémon were taken out in one go. Oh well, at least that gets rid of her flying-type advantage for later. "Driftblim, dematerialise! Good fight."

"Liepard, your duty is done. Scrafty, come forth." I bring out the squat, dinosaur-shaped Pokémon to do battle against whatever else she has up her sleeve.

"Spiritomb, materialise. Grimsley, did you think that was easy?"

"It was a challenge, yes." Even with a type advantage this was proving to be a difficult battle. I was bluffing of course, that was _not _easy.

"Things are only going to get tougher from here on in, just a word of warning. Spiritomb, Dark Pulse go." If she is not bluffing I am royally screwed.

"Scrafty use Protect, quickly." The shield goes up barely in time. Shit, her Spiritomb has fast attacks!

"Running scared at the beginning of a battle? Come on, according to you this battle should be over by now! Seriously Grimsley, where are these unbeatable Dark types I keep hearing about? Spiritomb, use Shadow Ball." The black orb was formed and fired before I could even respond.

"Scrafty, dodge." The attack was a direct hit, knocking Scrafty down. That Spiritomb is fast _and_ powerful. I had to at least try taking the fight back to her. "Use Faint Attack." I commanded. Let's see her counter this one.

"Spiritomb use Protect! You're not the only one who can avoid an attack." Shauntal was definitely good at battling, and she was pretty damn pissed. That did not affect her battling at all, however. There might just be more to her than I thought. Scrafty's attack didn't get past the shield, as expected. "Use Hyper Beam, take it out." Again, her great spiral ghost was attacking very quickly and Scrafty was at point blank range.

"Scrafty quick, use Protect again." The shield barely went up in time; she wasn't leaving me any room to counter. Except Hyper Beam would leave her Spiritomb open for an attack, my strongest one yet. "Head Smash! Well Shaunie, bet you weren't expecting that were you?" She did look surprised at the fact that I went for an attack with a massive recoil, but right now it's go big or go home. And I am _not _going to lose this battle on account of my less than subtle ways to see beneath her shell. The attack landed dead on with enough power to knock Spiritomb out for the count, but the recoil was enough to bring my Scrafty down as well. "Scrafty. your duty is done, Cacturne come forth."

I know who she has left; it's her Chandelure, her ace in the hole. And of course my strongest Pokémon is already out of this battle. This is going to be interesting...and of course by interesting I mean that I am totally fucked.

"Hmm, you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time aren't you? A Grass type against my Chandelure? And with the damage your Drapion has already taken you really don't have much left. Chandelure, materialise." Well, she is as good as I've heard. Constantly analysing her opponent, never stops looking, trying to read them. Finding a weakness is her speciality.

Wait... So she was even looking for a weakness in me earlier? Why would she be looking for a weakness in me, unless... No, she wouldn't have feelings for me, she hides her true self when she is around me.

...Then why on earth was she analysing me earlier?

"Hey pretty boy, we going to finish this or not? I mean this has been fun and all but Marshal made me a bet that I couldn't beat you. Said I would be too busy staring at your smoking body to make the right calls. Chandelure go! Use Double team. Ooh, look! So many to choose from, which one are you going to hit?" Now she's taunting me again, she's good at it too.

Damn, I slipped up and gave her a chance earlier, and now she is in charge of this battle. Alright, if she thinks she's got me cornered, she's got another think coming. "Cacturne, hit them all with Poison Sting." Thin purple needles sprayed from the tips of Cacturne's arms. We spent ages training to get the right amount of needles from just one attack, and it was paying off.

"Chandelure block them with Flamethrower, and then use it to counterattack." The needles were stopped by the flames from Chandelure, which turned into a stream aimed right at Cacturne. The attack was a direct hit, causing some pretty nasty burns and a lot of damage. She knew how to use her Chandelure.

"Cacturne, use Toxic." If it hits and I can keep this battle going long enough I might pull this off.

"Really? Toxic? Are you that desperate? Oh how I laugh, Chandelure dodge and use Fire Blast." The great man-shaped fireball zoomed at Cacturne -who is not the most mobile of my Pokémon and took a straight hit, sending him flying away and out of the match. Leaving me with just my burned Drapion against her strongest Pokémon.

"Cacturne, your duty is done, Drapion come forth, your time is now. This is not going to be an easy fight. Go, use Toxic." Drapion launched a short purple spear at Chandelure, who easily dodged. _Of course_ there was a reason her Chandelure was her best. It was fast, powerful and has such mastery over its attacks that it could use them to defend and counterattack at the same time.

"Chandelure, use Energy Ball! Trying Toxic again? Didn't you learn that Chandelure is just too fast for an attack like that?" Taunting me again! She was in control of this battle and she knew it, but Drapion could land the hit I was after. Surviving long enough would be the real challenge.

"Drapion block it with Cross Poison. Now use Pin Missile, make it count." Hundreds of white arrows fly from Drapion as it launched Pin Missile. The arrows move fast and there are so many of them it is almost impossible to dodge, even though Chandelure is trying its hardest. There, a hit. Once one landed a hit, more followed. "Now use Toxic." The purple spear was launched once again, this time landing, badly poisoning her best Pokémon.

Now the fight to survive begins.

"So, you landed Toxic did you? Good effort, but can you last long enough is the question? Chandelure, Double Team." She had only just seen Pin Missile's power and she was trying to confuse me?

"Drapion, blast them all with Pin Missile." Simple but effective tactic, except when the smoke cleared they were all gone, the real one had disappeared in the confusion.

"Chandelure use Overheat. This battle's over." Chandelure appeared out of nowhere behind Drapion and blasted him with a searing tornado of fire, knocking him out of the battle.

I had lost. Shauntal had actually won with the type disadvantage! A truly impressive woman...more impressive than most of my usual women.

Mine? She's not mine…

...Not yet anyway.

_..._

_Later…_

"Oh Grimsley, I have loved you for as long as I have known you, you are an amazing person. You have a great body, brilliant hair and you just look _so damn hot _in pretty much whatever you wear. You can be my boyfriend anytime you want."

I can only laugh. "You bet that I would win, didn't you?" Marshal just loves to bet, and well...this is a pretty good result for losing a battle. I mean he is basically being all complimentary and nice with his confession of love. "Shauntal wrote what you were supposed to say, didn't she?"

"Actually it was Caitlin. Shauntal tends to write with really nice words, very descriptive and when it gets to the love confessions she gets _very_ poetic. Didn't you know Shauntal writes romance novels? Her latest one is quite hot...or so I've heard." Of course Marshal and Caitlin would know Shauntal better than I would; I mean she was forever in her shell around me, until I unleashed her temper.

"Do you know where Shauntal is?" At that point Shauntal and Caitlin stepped out from around the corner.

"He barely reacted at all! But at least we have Marshal on tape confessing his undying love for Grimsley. Come on Shauntal, it's your turn now." Caitlin announced. Shauntal suddenly blushed and started yelling at her.

"That was not part of the deal! The deal was if I beat Grimsley, Marshal would say all that to him and I wouldn't have to say anything!" Caitlin just giggled.

"Oh did I say that? Whoops, I lied." Shauntal's blush just got deeper. She does look very nice when she blushes, it's a nice colour.

"Caitlin, you can be evil sometimes and this is one of those times." Slowly she turned to me, her face red. "Grimsley... today's battle was to see what's under my shell wasn't it? Well I go into my shell when you're around because... when I get feelings for someone I get all nervous and say incredibly stupid stuff. The last guy I liked ran off because I said the stupidest thing." I look at her expectantly, wondering if she is going to finish the story. She catches me looking. "No, I'm not going to tell you what I said. Bloody hell Grimsley, you're not _that _special. Anyway... the thing is... I've been attracted to you since I got here. And then I fell," she takes a deep breath "in love with you. There, I said it, can I go die in a hole now?"

"Hmm... no. No hole dying for you today, or any other day that you're in love with me. I think I may have discovered the source of my dry spell."

Marshal tries and fails to suppress a laugh. "Yeah, laugh it up Mr 'I declare my love to guys'". That shut him up. "I think I've developed feelings for you as well. All through our battle I kept having these thoughts that made me realise that I care about you more than other girls. There _I_ said it. Will you accept me even if I am an arrogant, ostentatious, pretty boy prick? Your words I believe."

I could tell she was going to say yes, but of course there was something she would say beforehand. Others get jealous at my talent for reading women. I just think it has allowed me to avoid any unnecessary, potentially good-look damaging injuries. Not many people have said that I'm narcissistic, but it is true.

"You narcissistic fool, I'm sorry you felt the need to deliberately infuriate me just to see that I actually have a personality. I have a bit of a temper occasionally. Of course I will accept you; you're all I've wanted for the past three months. Yes, a thousand times over yes." I knew it. Of course I didn't know it this morning. Oh, the joys of Pokémon battles.

I smiled as Shauntal and I sat down together for lunch.


End file.
